Feliciano Lopez revealed Carlos Alcaraz is the best player he has seen play at his age but suggested comparisons with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are unfair.
The former world No 12 questioned whether Alcaraz winning 15 Grand Slam titles would not be seen as a “big deal” due to the achievements of the ‘Big Three.’
Alcaraz, who turned 20 in May, has already won two Grand Slam titles with his victories at the 2022 US Open and this year’s Wimbledon Championships.
The Spaniard became the youngest player to be ranked world No 1 in the ATP Rankings following his triumph at Flushing Meadows last year, which came four months after his 19th birthday.
The current world No 2 followed up a superb 2022 season with a career-best campaign in 2023, during which he claimed ATP six titles and and won 65 of his 77 matches (84.4%).
Djokovic, Nadal and Federer make up the all-time top three for men’s Grand Slam titles won, having claimed 24, 22 and 20 respectively.
In an interview with AS, Lopez highlighted what Alcaraz has already accomplished and stressed fans should enjoy his career rather than comparing him to the legendary trio of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.
“At his age, he has already won two Grand Slams and has been number one. He is one of those players that comes out every few years. But of course, we tend to compare him with Federer, Nadal and Djokovic,” the 42-year-old Spaniard said.
“People don’t realise what they’ve done. What happens, if Alcaraz wins 15 Slams – it won’t be that big of a deal? The thing is that, until recently, [Pete] Sampras was 14 and an uncle from Manacor (Nadal) arrived and won 14 in it (the French Open).
“I have lived this time. I have played against them. What has happened is not going to be repeated, the probability is very low. [John] McEnroe, [Boris] Becker, [Ivan] Lendl, [Andre] Agassi, Sampras, [Rod] Laver, what are they, some packages?
“We have to do an exercise in pedagogy and say, hey, it’s unreal to see a Michael Jordan, three of them together every 15 years. Alcaraz is incredibly good. I have no explanation for those three.
“How do you tell someone who dreams of being a tennis player, of winning a major, that there is a guy, Nadal, who has won Roland Garros 14 times?
“Let’s enjoy Alcaraz, his career. And if he wins 10, 12 or 13, time will tell. But let’s value what he has done. I have not seen a player his age play so well, I don’t know if Federer at 20 years old played like Carlos.”
Lopez, who turned professional in 1997, won seven ATP singles titles during an impressive 26-year career, which he called time on in June this year. The big-serving left-hander lost to Yannick Hanfmann in the quarter-finals of the Mallorca Championships ATP 250 tournament in June in his final match.
Lopez also won six doubles titles, including the 2016 French Open, and reached a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No 9.
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